Systems and methods for configuration independent unplanned failover within a cross-site storage system having bidirectional synchronous replication

[0001] Various embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to dual copy multi-site distributed data storage systems having bidirectional synchronous replication. In particular, some embodiments relate to systems and methods for a configuration independent unplanned failover between the primary and secondary storage sites of the dual copy multi-site distributed data storage systems.

[0002] Multiple storage nodes organized as a cluster may provide a distributed storage architecture configured to service storage requests issued by one or more clients of the cluster. The storage requests are directed to data stored on storage devices coupled to one or more of the storage nodes of the cluster. A fully symmetric bidirectional storage allows simultaneous read-write access to both a primary copy and a secondary copy of the data. During the course of conventional failover, the configuration of both of a primary storage site and a secondary storage will be under transition from one role to a different role (i.e., primary role to secondary role on primary storage site and secondary role to primary role on secondary storage site). If the true primary site experiences a disaster during the conventional failover in this scenario, then a conventional unplanned failover will not help because the conventional unplanned failover works only when the storage configuration for a surviving storage site has a secondary role. In this scenario, the surviving true secondary storage site might still have the configuration as primary or intermediate states.

[0003] In one example, an order of operations of a computer-implemented method includes establishing bi-directional synchronous replication between one or more members of a first consistency group (CG1) of a primary storage site and one or more members of a second consistency group (CG2) of a secondary storage site with each storage site having read/write access while maintaining zero recovery point objective (RPO) and Zero recovery time objective (RTO), initiating a non-disruptive planned failover (PFO) to change a role for the secondary storage site and change a role for the primary storage site, detecting a heart beat failure (e.g., based on a disaster or site failure) during a predetermined time period for the primary storage or the secondary storage site; initiating, with the primary storage site, a PFO out of synchronization (OOS) event that is sent to a mediator agent with no indication of a role for serving IO for the primary storage site; initiating, with the secondary storage site, a PFO out of synchronization (OOS) event that is sent to a mediator agent with no indication of a role for serving IO for the secondary storage site; and starting a configuration independent unplanned failover based on a disaster or site failure occurring during the PFO.

[0004] Other features of embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent from accompanying drawings and detailed description that follows.

[0021] Systems and methods are described for a fully symmetric storage solution that allows simultaneous read-write access to both a primary copy and a secondary copy of data. In particular, some embodiments relate to systems and methods for a configuration independent unplanned failover between the primary and secondary storage sites of the dual copy multi-site distributed data storage systems. This storage solution provides a seamless IO resumption from a surviving secondary storage site in case of a disaster or fault at a primary storage site during non-disruptive failover.

[0022] The fully symmetric storage solution provides application-granular zero recovery point objective (ZRPO) data protection that prevents any data loss and zero recovery time objective (ZRTO) transparent failover that provides instant recovery in the event of various potential faults for a primary storage site, a secondary storage site, and communication links between the primary and secondary storage sites. Concurrent read/write access to both copies in a symmetric Active/Active storage system is facilitated by bi-directional synchronous replication. This means that any write operation (WRITE op) initiated on a primary copy of a primary storage site is synchronously replicated to the secondary copy on a secondary storage site before a client receives an acknowledgment (ACK). Similarly, a WRITE op initiated on secondary copy is synchronously replicated to the primary copy before the client receives an ACK. This bi-directional sync replication ensures that both copies are up-to-date and consistent with each other.

[0023] In one example, the primary storage site and secondary storage site are located in relatively close proximity (e.g., less than 100 km, proximity based on round trip time guarantees for synchronous replication datasets) and a tertiary storage site is located at a greater distance. In another example, one or more of the storage sites (e.g., one storage site, two storage sites, three storage sites) can be located in a private or public cloud, accessible (e.g., via a web portal) to an administrator associated with a managed service provider and/or administrators of one or more customers of the managed service provider, includes a cloud-based, monitoring system provided that network connectivity is suitable for synchronous replication between the two synchronous replicated copies. Furthermore, other combinations for the storage sites are possible, for example, one storage site on premise and two storage sites in the cloud and other such variants. The three site topology is applicable to cloud-resident workloads and datasets as well. For a fully cloud resident dataset, two sites can be in the same region (e.g., same availability zone (AZ) or different AZs with sync replication being a limit to a distance between the two sites) and the third site can be in a different region (e.g., a long distance dataset copy) or even an on premise data center. Availability zones (AZs) are isolated data centers located within specific regions in which public cloud services originate and operate. Cloud computing businesses typically have multiple worldwide availability zones. A cloud-resident workload is an application, service, capability, or a specified amount of work that consumes cloud-based resources (e.g., computing or memory power). Databases, containers, microservices, VMs, and Hadoop nodes are examples of cloud workloads.

[0024] In one embodiment, cross-site high availability is a valuable addition to cross-site zero recover point objective (RPO) that provides non-disruptive operations even if an entire local data center becomes non-functional based on a seamless failing over of storage access to a mirror copy hosted in a remote data center. This type of failover is also known as zero RTO, near zero RTO, or automatic failover. A cross-site high availability storage when deployed with host clustering enables workloads to be in both data centers.

[0025] Given that more workloads are moving to a cloud environment and many customers deploy hybrid cloud, applications will also demand these same features in the cloud including cross-site high availability, planned failover, planned migration, etc.

[0026] As such, embodiments described herein seek to improve the technological processes of multi-site distributed data storage systems. Various embodiments of the present technology provide for a wide range of technical effects, advantages, and/or improvements to multi-site distributed storage systems and components. The present storage solution provides a symmetric distributed storage system in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Bi-directional replication between primary and secondary storage sites ensures consistency across the two copies of dataset. A preferred cluster is an attribute that allows a user to control which cluster of a primary storage site or a secondary storage site gets a preference to serve I/O operations in case of a network partition. A planned-failover (PFO) workflow allows a user to change the preferred-cluster from one cluster to another. If a failure occurs to a storage site during the PFO, then an unplanned failover is triggered and the storage sites may have intermediate states for configuration information in replicated database tables and cache. The present storage solution provides role/configuration independent out of sync (OOS) handling from both storage sites during the non-disruptive failover. Also, the unplanned failover is role independent.

[0027] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form.

[0028] Brief definitions of terms used throughout this application are given below.

[0029] A “computer” or “computer system” may be one or more physical computers, virtual computers, or computing devices. As an example, a computer may be one or more server computers, cloud-based computers, cloud-based cluster of computers, virtual machine instances or virtual machine computing elements such as virtual processors, storage and memory, data centers, storage devices, desktop computers, laptop computers, mobile devices, or any other special-purpose computing devices. Any reference to “a computer” or “a computer system” herein may mean one or more computers, unless expressly stated otherwise.

[0030] The terms “connected” or “coupled” and related terms are used in an operational sense and are not necessarily limited to a direct connection or coupling. Thus, for example, two devices may be coupled directly, or via one or more intermediary media or devices. As another example, devices may be coupled in such a way that information can be passed there between, while not sharing any physical connection with one another. Based on the disclosure provided herein, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate a variety of ways in which connection or coupling exists in accordance with the aforementioned definition.

[0031] If the specification states a component or feature “may”, “can”, “could”, or “might” be included or have a characteristic, that particular component or feature is not required to be included or have the characteristic.

[0032] As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” includes plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0033] The phrases “in an embodiment,” “according to one embodiment,” and the like generally mean the particular feature, structure, or characteristic following the phrase is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, and may be included in more than one embodiment of the present disclosure. Importantly, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment.

[0034] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an environment 100 in which various embodiments may be implemented. In various examples described herein, an administrator (e.g., user 112) of a multi-site distributed storage system 102 having clusters 135, 145, and optional cluster 155 or a managed service provider responsible for multiple distributed storage systems of the same or multiple customers may monitor various operations and network conditions of the distributed storage system or multiple distributed storage systems via a browser-based interface presented on computer system 110. The distributed storage system 102 provides a fully symmetric storage solution that allows simultaneous read-write access to both the primary and secondary copies of the data.

[0035] In the context of the present example, the multi-site distributed storage system 102 includes a data center 130, a data center 140, an optional data center 150, and optionally a mediator 120. The data centers 130, 140, 150, the mediator 120, and the computer system 110 are coupled in communication via a network 105, which, depending upon the particular implementation, may be a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), or the Internet.

[0036] The data centers 130, 140, and 150 may represent an enterprise data center (e.g., an on-premises customer data center) that is owned and operated by a company or the data center 130 may be managed by a third party (or a managed service provider) on behalf of the company, which may lease the equipment and infrastructure. Alternatively, the data centers 130, 140, and 150 may represent a colocation data center in which a company rents space of a facility owned by others and located off the company premises. The data centers are shown with a cluster (e.g., cluster 135, cluster 145, cluster 155). Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate additional IT infrastructure may be included within the data centers 130, 140, and 150. In one example, the data center 140 is a mirrored copy of the data center 130 to provide non-disruptive operations at all times even in the presence of failures including, but not limited to, network disconnection between the data centers 130 and 140 and the mediator 120, which can also be located at a data center. The cluster 155 of optional data center 150 can have an asynchronous relationship, synchronous relationship, or be a vault retention of the cluster 135 of the data center 130.

[0037] Turning now to the cluster 135, it includes a configuration database 138, multiple storage nodes 136a-n each having a respective mediator agent 139a-n, and an Application Programming Interface (API) 137. In the context of the present example, the multiple storage nodes 136a-n are organized as a cluster and provide a distributed storage architecture to service storage requests issued by one or more clients (not shown) of the cluster. The configuration database may store configuration information for a cluster. A configuration database provides cluster wide storage for storage nodes within a cluster. The data served by the storage nodes 136a-n may be distributed across multiple storage units embodied as persistent storage devices, including but not limited to HDDs, SSDs, flash memory systems, or other storage devices. In a similar manner, cluster 145 includes a configuration database 148, multiple storage nodes 146a-n each having a respective mediator agent 149a-n, and an Application Programming Interface (API) 147. In the context of the present example, the multiple storage nodes 146a-n are organized as a cluster and provide a distributed storage architecture to service storage requests issued by one or more clients of the cluster. Turning now to the optional cluster 155, it includes a configuration database 158, multiple storage nodes 156a-b each having a respective mediator agent 159a-b, and an Application Programming Interface (API) 157.

[0038] The API 137 may provide an interface through which the cluster 135 is configured and/or queried by external actors (e.g., computer system 110, data center 140, the mediator 120, clients). Depending upon the particular implementation, the API 137 may represent a Representational State Transfer (REST)ful API that uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) methods (e.g., GET, POST, PATCH, DELETE, and OPTIONS) to indicate its actions. Depending upon the particular embodiment, the API 137 may provide access to various telemetry data (e.g., performance, configuration, storage efficiency metrics, and other system data) relating to the cluster 135 or components thereof. As those skilled in the art will appreciate various other types of telemetry data may be made available via the API 137, including, but not limited to measures of latency, utilization, and/or performance at various levels (e.g., the cluster level, the storage node level, or the storage node component level).

[0039] In the context of the present example, the mediator 120, which may represent a private or public cloud accessible (e.g., via a web portal) to an administrator associated with a managed service provider and/or administrators of one or more customers of the managed service provider, includes a cloud-based, monitoring system.

[0040] While for sake of brevity, only three data centers are shown in the context of the present example, it is to be appreciated that additional clusters owned by or leased by the same or different companies (data storage subscribers/customers) may be monitored and one or more metrics may be estimated based on data stored within a given level of a data store in accordance with the methodologies described herein and such clusters may reside in multiple data centers of different types (e.g., enterprise data centers, managed services data centers, or colocation data centers).

[0041] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an environment 200 having potential failures within a multi-site distributed storage system 202 in which various embodiments may be implemented. In various examples described herein, an administrator (e.g., user 212) of a multi-site distributed storage system 202 having clusters 235 and cluster 245 or a managed service provider responsible for multiple distributed storage systems of the same or multiple customers may monitor various operations and network conditions of the distributed storage system or multiple distributed storage systems via a browser-based interface presented on computer system 210.

[0042] In the context of the present example, the system 202 includes data center 230, data center 240, an optional data center 250, and optionally a mediator 220. The data centers 230, 240, and 250, the mediator 220, and the computer system 210 are coupled in communication via a network 205, which, depending upon the particular implementation, may be a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), or the Internet.

[0043] The data centers 230, 240, and 250 may represent an enterprise data center (e.g., an on-premises customer data center) that is owned and operated by a company or the data center 230 may be managed by a third party (or a managed service provider) on behalf of the company, which may lease the equipment and infrastructure. Alternatively, the data centers 230, 240 and 250 may represent a colocation data center in which a company rents space of a facility owned by others and located off the company premises. The data centers 230 and 240 are shown with a cluster (e.g., cluster 235, cluster 245). The data center 250 includes similar components as data centers 230 and 240. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate additional IT infrastructure may be included within the data centers 230 and 240. In one example, the data center 240 is a mirrored copy of the data center 230 to provide non-disruptive operations at all times even in the presence of failures including, but not limited to, network disconnection between the data centers 230 and 240 and the mediator 220, which can also be a data center.

[0044] The system 202 can utilize communications 290 and 291 to synchronize a mirrored copy of data of the data center 240 with a primary copy of the data of the data center 230. Either of the communications 290 and 291 between the data centers 230 and 240 may have a failure 295. In a similar manner, a communication 292 between data center 230 and mediator 220 may have a failure 296 while a communication 293 between the data center 240 and the mediator 220 may have a failure 297. If not responded to appropriately, these failures whether transient or permanent have the potential to disrupt operations for users of the distributed storage system 202. In one example, communications between the data centers 230 and 240 have approximately a 5-20 millisecond round trip time.

[0045] Turning now to the cluster 235, it includes a configuration database 238, at least two storage nodes 236a-b, optionally includes additional storage nodes (e.g., 236n) and an Application Programming Interface (API) 237. The storage nodes 236a-n each include a respective mediator agent 239a-n. In the context of the present example, the multiple storage nodes are organized as a cluster and provide a distributed storage architecture to service storage requests issued by one or more clients of the cluster. The data served by the storage nodes may be distributed across multiple storage units embodied as persistent storage devices, including but not limited to HDDs, SSDs, flash memory systems, or other storage devices.

[0046] Turning now to the cluster 245, it includes a configuration database 248, at least two storage nodes 246a-b, optionally includes additional storage nodes (e.g., 246n) and includes an Application Programming Interface (API) 247. The storage nodes 246a-n each include a respective mediator agent 249a-n. In the context of the present example, the multiple storage nodes are organized as a cluster and provide a distributed storage architecture to service storage requests issued by one or more clients of the cluster. The data served by the storage nodes may be distributed across multiple storage units embodied as persistent storage devices, including but not limited to HDDs, SSDs, flash memory systems, or other storage devices.

[0047] A synchronous replication from a primary copy of data at a primary storage site (e.g., cluster 235) to a secondary copy of data at a secondary storage site (e.g., cluster 245) can fail due to inter cluster or cluster to mediator connectivity issues (e.g., failures 295, 296, 297). These issues can occur if the secondary storage site can not differentiate between the primary storage site being non-operational (or isolation), or just a network partition. A trigger for the automated failover is generated from a data path and if the data path is lost, this can lead to disruption. A data replication relationship between the primary and secondary storage sites guarantees non-disruptiveness due to allowing I/O operations to be handled with the secondary mirror copy of data. However, there are timing windows between the primary storage site being non-operational and the secondary mirror copy being ready to serve I/O operations where a second failure can lead to disruption. For example, a controller failure can occur in a cluster hosting the secondary mirror copy of the data. The failover feature of the present design guarantees non-disruptive operations (e.g., operations of business enterprise applications, operations of software application) even in the presence of these multiple failures.

[0048] In one example, each cluster can have up to 5 consistency groups with each consistency group having up to 12 volumes. The system 202 provides an automatic unplanned failover feature at a consistency group granularity. The failover feature allows switching storage access from a primary copy of the data center 230 to a mirror copy of the data center 240 or vice versa.

[0049] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a multi-site distributed storage system 300 in which various embodiments may be implemented. In various examples described herein, an administrator (e.g., user 307) of the multi-site distributed storage system 300 or a managed service provider responsible for multiple distributed storage systems of the same or multiple customers may monitor various operations and network conditions of the distributed storage system or multiple distributed storage systems via a browser-based interface presented on computer system 308. In the context of the present example, the distributed storage system 300 includes a data center 302 having a cluster 310, a data center 304 having a cluster 320, an optional data center 350 having a cluster 355, and a mediator 360. The clusters 310, 320, 355, and the mediator 360 are coupled in communication (e.g., communications 340-342) via a network, which, depending upon the particular implementation, may be a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), or the Internet.

[0050] The cluster 310 includes nodes 311 and 312, the cluster 320 includes nodes 321 and 322, and the optional cluster 355 includes nodes 356a and 356b. In one example, the cluster 320 has a data copy 331 that is a mirrored copy of the data copy 330 to provide non-disruptive operations at all times even in the presence of multiple failures including, but not limited to, network disconnection between the data centers 302 and 304 and the mediator 360. The cluster 355 may have an asynchronous replication relationship with cluster 310 or a mirror vault policy. The cluster 355 includes a configuration database 358, multiple storage nodes 356a-b each having a respective mediator agent 359a-b, and an Application Programming Interface (API) 357.

[0051] The multi-site distributed storage system 300 provides correctness of data, availability, and redundancy of data. In one example, the node 311 is designated as a leader and the node 321 is designated as a follower. The leader is given preference to serve I/O operations to requesting clients and this allows the leader to obtain a consensus in a case of a race between the clusters 310 and 320. The mediator 360 enables an automated unplanned failover (AUFO) in the event of a failure. The data copy 330 (leader), data copy 331 (follower), and the mediator 360 form a three way quorum. If two of the three entities reach an agreement for whether the leader or follower should serve I/O operations to requesting clients, then this forms a strong consensus.

[0052] The leader and follower roles for the clusters 310 and 320 help to avoid a split-brain situation with both of the clusters simultaneously attempting to serve I/O operations. For example, the leader may become unresponsive while a mediator detects this unresponsiveness to be a leader non-operational situation. The leader being non-operational can potentially cause a race between leader and follower copy both simultaneously attempting to obtain a consensus. However, only one of the leader and the follower should win the race and then be allowed to handle I/O operations. If this race is not prevented, it can result in the split-brain situation.

[0053] The mediator agents (e.g., 313, 314, 323, 324, 359a, 359b) are configured on each node within a cluster. The system 300 can perform appropriate actions based on event processing of the mediator agents. The mediator agent(s) processes events that are generated at a lower level (e.g., volume level, node level) and generates an output for a consistency group level. In one example, the nodes 311, 312, 321, and 322 form a consistency group. The mediator agent provides services for various events (e.g., simultaneous events, conflicting events) generated in a business data replication relationship between each cluster.

[0054] The multi-site distributed storage system 300 presents a single virtual logical unit number (LUN) to a host computer or client using a synchronized-replicated distributed copies of a LUN. A LUN is a unique identifier for designating an individual or collection of physical or virtual storage devices that execute input/output (I/O) commands with a host computer, as defined by the Small System Computer Interface (SCSI) standard. In one example, active or passive access to this virtual LUN causes read and write commands to be serviced only by node 311 (leader) while operations received by the node 321 (follower) are proxied to node 311.

[0055] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a storage node 400 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Storage node 400 represents a non-limiting example of storage nodes (e.g., 136a-n, 146a-n, 236a-n, 246a-n, 311, 312, 331, 322, 712, 714, 752, 754) described herein. In the context of the present example, a storage node 400 may be a network storage controller or controller that provides access to data stored on one or more volumes. The storage node 400 includes a storage operating system 410, one or more slice services 420a-n, and one or more block services 415a-q. The storage operating system (OS) 410 may provide access to data stored by the storage node 400 via various protocols (e.g., small computer system interface (SCSI), Internet small computer system interface (ISCSI), fibre channel (FC), common Internet file system (CIFS), network file system (NFS), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), web-based distributed authoring and versioning (WebDAV), or a custom protocol. A non-limiting example of the storage OS 410 is NetApp Element Software (e.g., the SolidFire Element OS) based on Linux and designed for SSDs and scale-out architecture with the ability to expand up to 100 storage nodes.

[0056] Each slice service 420 may include one or more volumes (e.g., volumes 421a-x, volumes 421c-y, and volumes 421e-z). Client systems (not shown) associated with an enterprise may store data to one or more volumes, retrieve data from one or more volumes, and/or modify data stored on one or more volumes.

[0057] The slice services 420a-n and/or the client system may break data into data blocks. Block services 415a-q and slice services 420a-n may maintain mappings between an address of the client system and the eventual physical location of the data block in respective storage media of the storage node 400. In one embodiment, volumes 421 include unique and uniformly random identifiers to facilitate even distribution of a volume's data throughout a cluster (e.g., cluster 135). The slice services 420a-n may store metadata that maps between client systems and block services 415. For example, slice services 420 may map between the client addressing used by the client systems (e.g., file names, object names, block numbers, etc. such as Logical Block Addresses (LBAs)) and block layer addressing (e.g., block IDs) used in block services 415. Further, block services 415 may map between the block layer addressing (e.g., block identifiers) and the physical location of the data block on one or more storage devices. The blocks may be organized within bins maintained by the block services 415 for storage on physical storage devices (e.g., SSDs).

[0058] As noted above, a bin may be derived from the block ID for storage of a corresponding data block by extracting a predefined number of bits from the block identifiers. In some embodiments, the bin may be divided into buckets or “sublists” by extending the predefined number of bits extracted from the block identifier. A bin identifier may be used to identify a bin within the system. The bin identifier may also be used to identify a particular block service 415a-q and associated storage device (e.g., SSD). A sublist identifier may identify a sublist with the bin, which may be used to facilitate network transfer (or syncing) of data among block services in the event of a failure or crash of the storage node 400. Accordingly, a client can access data using a client address, which is eventually translated into the corresponding unique identifiers that reference the client's data at the storage node 400.

[0059] For each volume 421 hosted by a slice service 420, a list of block IDs may be stored with one block ID for each logical block on the volume. Each volume may be replicated between one or more slice services 420 and/or storage nodes 400, and the slice services for each volume may be synchronized between each of the slice services hosting that volume. Accordingly, failover protection may be provided in case a slice service 420 fails, such that access to each volume may continue during the failure condition.

[0060] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the concept of a consistency group (CG) in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the context of the present example, a stretch cluster including two clusters (e.g., cluster 510a and 510b) is shown. The clusters may be part of a cross-site high-availability (HA) solution that supports zero recovery point objective (RPO) and zero recovery time objective (RTO) protections by, among other things, providing a mirror copy of a dataset at a remote location, which is typically in a different fault domain than the location at which the dataset is hosted. For example, cluster 510a may be operable within a first site (e.g., a local data center) and cluster 510b may be operable within a second site (e.g., a remote data center) so as to provide non-disruptive operations even if, for example, an entire data center becomes non-functional, by seamlessly failing over the storage access to the mirror copy hosted in the other data center.

[0061] According to some embodiments, various operations (e.g., data replication, data migration, data protection, failover, storage expansion, container expansion, conversion process, and the like) may be performed at the level of granularity of a CG (e.g., CG 515a or CG 515b). A CG is a collection of storage objects or data containers (e.g., volumes) within a cluster that are managed by a Storage Virtual Machine (e.g., SVM 511a or SVM 511b) as a single unit. In various embodiments, the use of a CG as a unit of data replication guarantees a dependent write-order consistent view of the dataset and the mirror copy to support zero RPO and zero RTO. CGs may also be configured for use in connection with taking simultaneous snapshot images of multiple volumes, for example, to provide crash-consistent copies of a dataset associated with the volumes at a particular point in time.

[0062] The volumes of a CG may span multiple disks (e.g., electromechanical disks and/or SSDs, redundant array of independent (RAID) disks) of one or more storage nodes of the cluster. RAID disks store the same data in different place on multiple hard disks or SSDs to protect data in case of a drive failure. A CG may include a subset or all volumes of one or more storage nodes. In one example, a CG includes a subset of volumes of a first storage node and a subset of volumes of a second storage node. In another example, a CG includes a subset of volumes of a first storage node, a subset of volumes of a second storage node, and a subset of volumes of a third storage node. A CG may be referred to as a local CG or a remote CG depending upon the perspective of a particular cluster. For example, CG 515a may be referred to as a local CG from the perspective of cluster 510a and as a remote CG from the perspective of cluster 510b. Similarly, CG 515a may be referred to as a remote CG from the perspective of cluster 510b and as a local CG from the perspective of cluster 510b. At times, the volumes of a CG may be collectively referred to herein as members of the CG and may be individually referred to as a member of the CG. In one embodiment, members may be added or removed from a CG after it has been created.

[0063] A cluster may include one or more SVMs, each of which may contain data volumes and one or more logical interfaces (LIFs) (not shown) through which they serve data to clients. SVMs may be used to securely isolate the shared virtualized data storage of the storage nodes in the cluster, for example, to create isolated partitions within the cluster. In one embodiment, an LIF includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address and its associated characteristics. Each SVM may have a separate administrator authentication domain and can be managed independently via a management LIF to allow, among other things, definition and configuration of the associated CGs.

[0064] In the context of the present example, the SVMs make use of a configuration database (e.g., replicated database (RDB) 512a and 512b), which may store configuration information for their respective clusters. A configuration database provides cluster wide storage for storage nodes within a cluster. The configuration information may include relationship information specifying the status, direction of data replication, relationships, and/or roles of individual CGs, a set of CGs, members of the CGs, and/or the mediator. A pair of CGs may be said to be “peered” when one is protecting the other. For example, a CG (e.g., CG 515b) to which data is configured to be synchronously replicated may be referred to as being in the role of a destination CG, whereas the CG (e.g., CG 515a) being protected by the destination CG may be referred to as the source CG. Various events (e.g., transient or persistent network connectivity issues, availability/unavailability of the mediator, site failure, and the like) impacting the stretch cluster may result in the relationship information being updated at the cluster and/or the CG level to reflect changed status, relationships, and/or roles.

[0065] The level of granularity of operations supported by a CG is useful for various types of applications. As a non-limiting example, consider an application, such as a database application, that makes use of multiple volumes, including maintaining logs on one volume and the database on another volume. In such a case, the application may be assigned to a local CG of a first cluster that maintains the primary dataset, including an appropriate number of member volumes to meet the needs of the application, and a remote CG, for maintaining a mirror copy of the primary dataset, may be established on a second cluster to protect the local CG.

[0066] While in the context of various embodiments described herein, a volume of a CG may be described as performing certain actions (e.g., taking other members of a CG out of synchronization, disallowing/allowing access to the dataset or the mirror copy, issuing consensus protocol requests, etc.), it is to be understood such references are shorthand for an SVM or other controlling entity, managing or containing the volume at issue, performing such actions on behalf of the volume.

[0067] While in the context of various examples described herein, data replication may be described as being performed in a synchronous manner between a paired set of (or “peered”) CGs associated with different clusters (e.g., from a primary cluster to a secondary cluster), data replication may also be performed asynchronously and/or within the same cluster. Similarly, a single remote CG may protect a single local CG and/or multiple remote CGs may protect a single local CG. For example, a local CG can be setup for double protection by two remote CGs via fan-out or cascade topologies. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate a cross-site high-availability (HA) solution may include more than two clusters, in which a mirrored copy of a dataset of a primary cluster is stored on more than one secondary cluster.

[0068] The various nodes (e.g., storage nodes) of the distributed storage systems described herein, and the processing described below with reference to the flow diagrams of FIGS. 7-12 may be implemented in the form of executable instructions stored on a machine readable medium and executed by a processing resource (e.g., a microcontroller, a microprocessor, central processing unit core(s), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and the like) and/or in the form of other types of electronic circuitry. For example, the processing may be performed by one or more virtual or physical computer systems (e.g., servers, network storage systems or appliances, blades, etc.) of various forms, such as the computer systems described with reference to FIGS. 10-12 below.

[0069] FIG. 6A is a CG state diagram 600 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the context of the present example, the data replication status of a CG can generally be in either of an InSync state (e.g., InSync 610) or an OOS state (e.g., OOS 620). Within the OOS state, two sub-states are shown, a not ready for resync state 621 and a ready for resync state 623.

[0070] While a given CG is in the InSync state, the mirror copy of the primary dataset associated with the member volumes of the given CG may be said to be in-synchronization with the primary dataset and asynchronous data replication or synchronous data replication, as the case may be, are operating as expected. When a given CG is in the OOS state, the mirror copy of the primary dataset associated with the member volumes of the given CG may be said to be out-of-synchronization with the primary dataset and asynchronous data replication or synchronous data replication, as the case may be, are unable to operate as expected. Information regarding the current state of the data replication status of a CG may be maintained in a configuration database (e.g., RDB 512a or 512b).

[0071] As noted above, in various embodiments described herein, the members (e.g., volumes) of a CG may be managed as a single unit for various situations. In the context of the present example, the data replication status of a given CG is dependent upon the data replication status of the individual member volumes of the CG. A given CG may transition 611 from the InSync state to the not ready for resync state 621 of the OOS state responsive to any member volume of the CG becoming OOS with respect to a peer volume with which the member volume is peered. A given CG may transition 622 from the not ready for resync state 621 to the ready for resync state 623 responsive to all member volumes being available. In order to support recovery from, among other potential disruptive events, manual planned disruptive events (e.g., balancing of CG members across a cluster) a resynchronization process is provided to bring the CG back into the InSync state from the OOS state. Responsive to a successful CG resync, a given CG may transition 624 from the ready for resync state 623 to the InSync state.

[0072] Although outside the scope of the present disclosure, for completeness it is noted that additional state transitions may exist. For example, in some embodiments, a given CG may transition from the ready for resync state 623 to the not ready for resync state 621 responsive to unavailability of a mediator (e.g., mediator 120) configured for the given CG. In such an embodiment, the transition 622 from the not ready for resync state 621 to the ready for resync state 623 should additionally be based on the communication status of the mediator being available.

[0073] FIG. 6B is a volume state diagram 650 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the context of the present example, the data replication status of a volume can be in either of an InSync state (e.g., InSync 630) or an OOS state (e.g., OOS 640). While a given volume of a local CG (e.g., CG 515a) is in the InSync state, the given volume may be said to be in-synchronization with a peer volume of a remote CG (e.g., CG 515b) and the given volume and the peer volume are able to communicate with each other via the potentially unreliable network (e.g., network 205), for example, through their respective LIFs. When a given volume of the local CG is in the OOS state, the given volume may be said to be out-of-synchronization with the peer volume of the remote CG and the given volume and the peer volume are unable to communicate with each other. According to one embodiment, a periodic health check task may continuously monitor the ability to communicate between a pair of peered volumes. Information regarding the current state of the data replication status of a volume may be maintained in a configuration database (e.g., RDB 512a or 512b).

[0074] A given volume may transition 631 from the InSync state to the OOS state responsive to a peer volume being unavailable. A given volume may transition 632 from the OOS state to the InSync state responsive to a successful resynchronization with the peer volume. As described below in further detail, in one embodiment, two different types of resynchronization approaches may be implemented, including a Fast Resync process and a CG-level resync process, and selected for use individually or in sequence as appropriate for the circumstances.

Role Independent OOS Handling and Role Independent Unplanned Failover

[0075] In the steady state of a bi-directional data replication relationship between a first cluster of a primary storage site and a second cluster of a secondary storage site, when there is a site disaster at a primary copy of data of the first cluster of the primary storage site, then a secondary copy of data of the second cluster will failover and start serving IO due to an unplanned failover process. That is the unplanned failover support is tied to the secondary copy of data that has a replicated database, cache, and/or configuration role indicated as secondary.

[0076] When a bi-directional data replication relationship is going through non-disruptive failover to change a preferred cluster having a primary role, then the configuration, role, and/or cache might be intermediate as the bi-directional data replication relationship is going through the process of changing the roles (e.g., primary role, secondary role) for the primary and secondary storage sites. If there is a site disaster on the primary storage site then the secondary storage site may not be ready yet from a configuration perspective to go through unplanned failover to resume IO operations from the second cluster of the surviving secondary storage site. Thus, a storage solution is needed that supports a configuration independent unplanned failover. A storage copy of data that has been marked as secondary in a mediator component, should be able to go through unplanned failover and resume IO operations regardless of the storage copy of data's configuration in the various underlying functional modules. The present storage solution guarantees the availability (e.g., zero RTO capability) while the bi-directional data replication relationship is going through failover and the configuration/states are intermediate for different scenarios.

[0077] For a first scenario, a non-disruptive planned failover (PFO) is started. The PFO does not reach a PONR (Point Of No Return). In this example, the original primary storage site continues to be the preferred cluster and the secondary storage site continues to have the secondary role. If there is site disaster in the primary site having a preferred cluster, then the secondary copy of data will proceed through unplanned failover and resume IO though secondary copy of data was going through the non-disruptive failover.

[0078] For a second scenario as illustrated in FIG. 7, a non-disruptive planned failover (PFO) is started and the PFO does reach a PONR (Point Of No Return). In this example, the current secondary storage site has a role change from secondary to primary in the mediator. The remaining steps of non-disruptive failover are not done yet and so the cache and configuration across other components such as a data cache, RDB tables, roles in the synchronous replication engine might have not updated yet or the configuration might be in the intermediate states. If there is site disaster at the new storage site having a preferred cluster and primary role, then the new secondary copy of the data should undergo unplanned failover and resume IO though the secondary copy of the data does not have the secondary configuration in the underlying components.

[0079] FIG. 7 is planned failover (PFO) followed by an automatic unplanned failover (AUFO) workflow diagram illustrating an order of operations between a primary storage site (source) and a secondary storage site (destination) for a symmetric distributed storage system having bidirectional synchronous replication in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. State information regarding members (e.g., storage volumes) of a local CG can be maintained. The state information may include a data replication status of a mirror copy of a dataset associated with a local CG (e.g., CG 515a) may be maintained, for example, to facilitate automatic triggering of resynchronization. For example, the state information may include information relating to the current availability or unavailability of a peer volume of a remote CG corresponding to a member volume of the local CG and/or the data replication state of the local CG. In one embodiment, the state information may track the current state of a given CG and a given volume consistent with the state diagrams of FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B.

[0080] Although the operations in the computer-implemented method 700 are shown in a particular order, the order of the actions can be modified. Thus, the illustrated embodiments can be performed in a different order, and some operations may be performed in parallel. Some of the operations listed in FIG. 7 are optional in accordance with certain embodiments. The numbering of the operations presented is for the sake of clarity and is not intended to prescribe an order of operations in which the various operations must occur. Additionally, operations from the various flows may be utilized in a variety of combinations.

[0081] The operations of computer-implemented method 700 may be executed by a storage controller, a storage virtual machine (e.g., SVM 511a, SVM 511b), a mediator (e.g., mediator 120, mediator 220, mediator 360), a mediator agent (e.g., mediator agent 139a-139n, mediator agent 149a-149n, mediator agent 239a-239n, mediator agent 249a-249n, mediator agent 313, 314, 323, 324, mediator agent 439), a multi-site distributed storage system, a computer system, a machine, a server, a web appliance, a centralized system, a distributed node, or any system, which includes processing logic (e.g., one or more processors, a processing resource). The processing logic may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine or a device), or a combination of both.

[0082] Initially, the computer-implemented method includes establishing bi-directional synchronous replication between one or more members of a first storage cluster of the source site 710 (e.g., primary storage site 710) and one or more members of a second storage cluster of a destination site 720 (e.g., secondary storage site 720) with each storage cluster having read/write access while maintaining zero recovery point objective (RPO) and Zero recovery time objective (RTO).

[0083] In one embodiment, a multi-site distributed storage system includes the primary storage site 710 having a first cluster with a primary copy of data in a consistency group (CG1). The consistency group of the first cluster is initially assigned a primary role. A second cluster of the secondary storage site 720 has a secondary mirror copy of the data in a consistency group. The consistency group of the second cluster (CG2) is initially assigned a secondary role. The storage system handles input/output (I/O) requests from the client device having an application. The primary storage site, secondary storage site, and a mediator communicate via a network.

[0084] At operation 715, the computer-implemented method includes initiating a planned failover from site 710 to site 720 with the non-disruptive PFO providing zero recovery point objective (ZRPO) data protection that prevents any data loss and zero recovery time objective (ZRTO). A user may initiate the PFO to change a role for a primary storage site and a secondary storage site upon a virtual machine (VM) migration, load balancing, or network faults.

[0085] At operation 722 for the site 720, a role is changed from secondary to primary for site 720 within an external mediator. At operation 724, a point of no return (PONR) for the role change is reached.

[0086] At operation 730, a failure occurs causing site 720 to be down (non-operational) or a network partition occurs resulting in site 720 being isolated and not receiving communications from site 710 and/or an external mediator.

[0087] At operation 740, the site 710 initiates an AUFO due not receiving communications from site 720. The configuration states upon starting AUFO can be no changes to roles for synchronous replication (SR) circuitry of sites 710 and 720, changed roles for the SR circuitry and no reversal of control configuration, or control configuration is reversed. For control configuration being reversed, if the RDB table of site 710 indicates a source role, then change the role from source to destination. The remaining operations of the non-disruptive failover are not done yet and so the cache/configuration across the other components such as data cache, replicated database tables, and roles in the synchronous replication circuitry might have not updated yet or they might be in the intermediate states.

[0088] At operation 750, the AUFO completes with a role for the site 710 being set to primary. At operation 760, an automatic resynchronization is initiated from site 720 to site 710 to cause an in sync state for the data replication relationship between sites 710 and 720.

[0089] FIG. 8 is an out of sync (OOS) state handling workflow diagram in steady state illustrating an order of operations between a primary storage site and a secondary storage site for a symmetric distributed storage system having bidirectional synchronous replication in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. State information regarding members (e.g., storage volumes) of a local CG can be maintained. The state information may include a data replication status of a mirror copy of a dataset associated with a local CG (e.g., CG 515a) may be maintained, for example, to facilitate automatic triggering of resynchronization. For example, the state information may include information relating to the current availability or unavailability of a peer volume of a remote CG corresponding to a member volume of the local CG and/or the data replication state of the local CG. In one embodiment, the state information may track the current state of a given CG and a given volume consistent with the state diagrams of FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B.

[0090] Although the operations in the computer-implemented method 800 are shown in a particular order, the order of the actions can be modified. Thus, the illustrated embodiments can be performed in a different order, and some operations may be performed in parallel. Some of the operations listed in FIG. 8 are optional in accordance with certain embodiments. The numbering of the operations presented is for the sake of clarity and is not intended to prescribe an order of operations in which the various operations must occur. Additionally, operations from the various flows may be utilized in a variety of combinations.

[0091] The operations of computer-implemented method 800 for the OOS handling may be executed by a storage controller, a storage virtual machine (e.g., SVM 511a, SVM 511b), a mediator (e.g., mediator 120, mediator 220, mediator 360), a mediator agent (e.g., mediator agent 139a-139n, mediator agent 149a-149n, mediator agent 239a-239n, mediator agent 249a-249n, mediator agent 313, 314, 323, 324, mediator agent 439), a multi-site distributed storage system, a computer system, a machine, a server, a web appliance, a centralized system, a distributed node, or any system, which includes processing logic (e.g., one or more processors, a processing resource). The processing logic may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine or a device), or a combination of both.

[0092] Initially, the computer-implemented method includes establishing bi-directional synchronous replication between one or more members of a first storage cluster of the source site 810 (e.g., primary storage site 810) and one or more members of a second storage cluster of a destination site 820 (e.g., secondary storage site 820) with each storage cluster having read/write access while maintaining zero recovery point objective (RPO) and Zero recovery time objective (RTO).

[0093] In one embodiment, a multi-site distributed storage system includes the primary storage site 810 having a first cluster with a primary copy of data in a consistency group (CG1). The consistency group of the first cluster is initially assigned a primary role. A second cluster of the secondary storage site 820 has a secondary mirror copy of the data in a consistency group. The consistency group of the second cluster (CG2) is initially assigned a secondary role. The storage system handles input/output (I/O) requests from the client device having an application. The primary storage site, secondary storage site, and a mediator communicate via a network.

[0094] At operation 811, the computer-implemented method includes detecting a heart beat failure that is caused by the site 810 not receiving a heart beat communication from site 820 during a predetermined time period or can be caused by the site 820 not receiving a heart beat communication from site 810 during the predetermined time period.

[0095] At operation 812 for the site 810, a data path role is set to forward for data replication from the site 810 to site 820 and OOS event is sent to a mediator agent of site 810. At operation 814 for the site 810, a control plane configuration is set to source for the site 810. No OOS action is taken for the control plane configuration.

[0096] At operation 816, the mediator agent of site 810 generates a response to the OOS event. At operation 818, a consensus for serving IO operations is set to site 810. Site 810 can continue serving IO for site 810 or have a disruption and not serve IO based on the mediator agent response at operation 816.

[0097] At operation 822 for the site 820, a data path role is set to reverse for data replication from the site 820 to site 810 and no OOS action. SR circuitry of site 820 is set to write primary role. At operation 824 for the site 820, a control plane configuration is set to destination for the site 820. An OOS event is generated and sent to the mediator agent of site 820.

[0098] At operation 826, the mediator agent of site 820 generates a response to the OOS event. At operation 828, the site 820 indicates that site 820 is failover incapable or an AUFO is initiated based on the mediator agent response at operation 826.

[0099] In the case of replication failures or unplanned nondisruptive Ops (NDOs) during PFO that warrants the bi-directional synchronous replication relationship to be brought to Out Of Sync (OOS) state, the primary copy of a dataset, which can be the original primary storage site or the new primary storage site based on the state of PFO, will obtain the consensus and serve IO. This is different compared to a steady state. In a steady state, as one storage site is given primary role, it takes the ownership of getting consensus from mediator and serving IO operations. However, during PFO, and possibly being in the process of switching the primary site/preferred cluster, one particular site cannot be given the ownership of obtaining the consensus. The storage solution is that both of the storage sites that are part of the bi-directional synchronous replication relationship, will check with the mediator for consensus, during this operation. The new requests from the primary and secondary storage sites do not indicate any role (e.g., primary, secondary). The mediator decides a current storage site having the primary role and that site will be given the consensus to serve IO operations. The other site will be assumed as secondary and will not receive the consensus. This guarantees the availability even during the failures that might happen when in the process of changing a primary role of a storage site.

[0100] An out of sync request from a true follower (e.g., secondary role as determined by mediator) does a health check to a primary cluster of the primary storage site and if the primary cluster is not reachable, then the storage site which is true secondary role as determined per mediator, will respond with unplanned failover action. A persistent indicator in the data plane will be used to know that a consistency group of a cluster is going through non-disruptive failover and based on that the sites will initiate the new role independent OOS request to the mediator.

[0101] When the mediator responds with unplanned failover as an action in above step, the configuration across various underlying components can be as indicated below for the particular bi-directional data replication relationship.

• • [0102] a) The roles in the synchronous replication circuitry for primary and secondary sites might not have been flipped or might be in progress.
  • [0103] b) The persistent RDB tables for primary and secondary sites might not have been flipped.
  • [0104] c) The persistent RDB tables might have been flipped, but the data cache might not have been flipped.

[0105] Regardless of a state of the cache or configuration, the storage site must go through unplanned failover and resume IO. In case the configuration or role is completely secondary, that is pre PONR (first scenario mentioned above in problem description), then the existing mechanism of unplanned failover would suffice. An ongoing non-disruptive failover would get aborted and then the process starts the unplanned failover operation. For the post PONR scenarios (second scenario mentioned above), then the existing mechanism of unplanned failover will not work. A new enhanced unplanned failover operation is needed that mitigates all the challenges (such as intermediate configuration states) raised due to the ongoing non-disruptive failover.

[0106] FIG. 9 is a role independent unplanned failover workflow diagram illustrating an order of operations between a primary storage site and a secondary storage site for a symmetric distributed storage system having bi-directional synchronous replication in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. State information regarding members (e.g., storage volumes) of a local CG can be maintained. The state information may include a data replication status of a mirror copy of a dataset associated with a local CG (e.g., CG 515a) may be maintained, for example, to facilitate automatic triggering of resynchronization. For example, the state information may include information relating to the current availability or unavailability of a peer volume of a remote CG corresponding to a member volume of the local CG and/or the data replication state of the local CG. In one embodiment, the state information may track the current state of a given CG and a given volume consistent with the state diagrams of FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B.

[0107] Although the operations in the computer-implemented method 900 are shown in a particular order, the order of the actions can be modified. Thus, the illustrated embodiments can be performed in a different order, and some operations may be performed in parallel. Some of the operations listed in FIG. 9 are optional in accordance with certain embodiments. The numbering of the operations presented is for the sake of clarity and is not intended to prescribe an order of operations in which the various operations must occur. Additionally, operations from the various flows may be utilized in a variety of combinations.

[0108] The operations of computer-implemented method 900 for the role independent unplanned failover workflow may be executed by a storage controller, a storage virtual machine (e.g., SVM 511a, SVM 511b), a mediator (e.g., mediator 120, mediator 220, mediator 360), a mediator agent (e.g., mediator agent 139a-139n, mediator agent 149a-149n, mediator agent 239a-239n, mediator agent 249a-249n, mediator agent 313, 314, 323, 324, mediator agent 439), a multi-site distributed storage system, a computer system, a machine, a server, a web appliance, a centralized system, a distributed node, or any system, which includes processing logic (e.g., one or more processors, a processing resource). The processing logic may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine or a device), or a combination of both.

[0109] Initially, the computer-implemented method includes establishing bi-directional synchronous replication between one or more members of a first storage cluster of the source site 910 (e.g., primary storage site 910) and one or more members of a second storage cluster of a destination site 920 (e.g., secondary storage site 920) with each storage cluster having read/write access while maintaining zero recovery point objective (RPO) and Zero recovery time objective (RTO).

[0110] In one embodiment, a multi-site distributed storage system includes the primary storage site 910 having a first cluster with a primary copy of data in a consistency group (CG1). The consistency group of the first cluster is initially assigned a primary role. A second cluster of the secondary storage site 920 has a secondary mirror copy of the data in a consistency group. The consistency group of the second cluster (CG2) is initially assigned a secondary role. The storage system handles input/output (I/O) requests from the client device having an application. The primary storage site, secondary storage site, and a mediator communicate via a network.

[0111] At operation 911, the computer-implemented method includes detecting a heart beat failure during a planned failover (PFO). The heart beat failure is caused by the site 910 not receiving a heart beat communication from site 920 during a predetermined time period or can be caused by the site 920 not receiving a heart beat communication from site 910 during the predetermined time period.

[0112] At operation 912 for the site 910, a data path role is set to forward or reverse for data replication (e.g., forward with data replication from site 910 to site 920, reverse with data replication from site 920 to site 910) and a new OOS event (e.g., PFO-OOS) is sent to a mediator agent of site 910. At operation 914 for the site 910, a control plane configuration is set to source for the site 910. No OOS action is taken for the control plane configuration.

[0113] At operation 916, the mediator agent of site 910 generates a response to the OOS event. The response of the mediator agent is illustrated in more detail in FIG. 10. The response will indicate whether the site 910 has a primary or secondary role. At operation 918, a consensus for serving IO operations is set to site 910 if the site 910 is assigned a primary role by the response. In this case, the site 910 can continue serving IO or will stop serving IO. Alternatively, if the site 910 is assigned a secondary role by the response from mediator agent, then the site marks itself as failover incapable or an automatic unplanned failover (AUFO) handling occurs.

[0114] At operation 922 for the site 920, a data path role is set to reverse or forward for data replication (e.g., reverse with data replication from site 910 to site 920, forward with data replication from site 920 to site 910) and a new OOS event (e.g., PFO-OOS) is sent to a mediator agent of site 920. At operation 924 for the site 920, a control plane configuration is set to destination for the site 920 and an OOS event is generated for a follower.

[0115] At operation 926, the mediator agent of site 920 generates a response to the PFO-OOS event for site 920. At operation 928, based on the response of the mediator agent of the site 920, a consensus for serving IO operations is set to site 920 if the site 920 is assigned a primary role by the response. In this case, the site 920 can continue serving IO or will stop serving IO. Alternatively, if the site 920 is assigned a secondary role by the response from mediator agent, then the site marks itself as failover incapable or an automatic unplanned failover (AUFO) handling occurs.

[0116] FIG. 10 is a workflow diagram illustrating operations for handling a PFO OOS event in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The operations of computer-implemented method 1000 may be executed by a storage controller, a storage virtual machine (e.g., SVM 511a, SVM 511b), a mediator (e.g., mediator 120, mediator 220, mediator 360), a mediator agent (e.g., mediator agent 139a-139n, mediator agent 149a-149n, mediator agent 239a-239n, mediator agent 249a-249n, mediator agent 313, 314, 323, 324, mediator agent 439), a multi-site distributed storage system, a computer system, a machine, a server, a web appliance, a centralized system, a distributed node, or any system, which includes processing logic (e.g., one or more processors, a processing resource). The processing logic may include hardware (circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine or a device), or a combination of both.

[0117] At operation 1010, a mediator agent of a primary storage site receives a PFO-OOS event from the primary storage site or a mediator agent of a secondary storage site receives a PFO-OOS event from the secondary storage site. At operation 1012, in one example, the mediator agent of the primary storage site sends a request for the PFO-OOS to an external mediator to determine if CG1 of the primary storage site (e.g., site 910) should be assigned a primary role or a secondary role. If the CG1 is assigned a primary role, then the mediator processes the PFO-OOS as being a leader at operation 1014. If the CG1 is assigned a secondary role, then the mediator processes the PFO-OOS as being a follower at operation 1016.

[0118] In another example, the mediator agent of the secondary storage site sends a request for the PFO-OOS to an external mediator to determine if CG2 of the secondary storage site (e.g., site 920) should be assigned a primary role or a secondary role. If the CG2 is assigned a primary role, then the mediator processes the PFO-OOS as being a leader at operation 1014. If the CG2 is assigned a secondary role, then the mediator processes the PFO-OOS as being a follower at operation 1016.

[0119] A computer-implemented method 1100 (role independent UFO workflow) for when a particular storage site receives automated unplanned failover (AUFO) as an action from the mediator is illustrated in FIG. 11 in accordance with one embodiment. Initially, at operation 1102, the computer-implemented method checks a role in RDB tables for the storage site that is performed the role independent UFO. If the role for the storage site is secondary, then route this role independent UFO to an existing unplanned failover handling at operation 1104. The unplanned failover handling is described in U.S. Pat. No. 11,709,743, which is incorporated by reference herein. If the role is primary, then start a new AUFO-source configuration at operation 1106 that includes the following sub-operations.

• • [0120] a) Disengage the synchronous replication circuitry (e.g., replication engines).
  • [0121] b) Set primary indicator in data plane.
  • [0122] c) Set the consensus as yes for the storage site.
  • [0123] d) Notify storage area network (SAN) components of the new AUFO-source configuration.

[0124] In regards to recovery after AUFO-source configuration, a snapshot based auto resync will detect this and will bring the bi-directional data replication relationship to inSync between the storage site and another storage site at operation 1108. No manual step is required to bring the bi-directional data replication relationship to steady state (inSync). Since the bi-directional data replication relationship went through unplanned failover, the ongoing non-disruptive failover will be aborted. A user might need to trigger the non-disruptive failover again to flip the preferred cluster.

[0125] Failure handling during AUFO-source configuration is highly resilient. The operation will be retried, forever, until it succeeds. The progress of the AUFO-source configuration operation is stored persistently in the RDB tables. Even if there is an unplanned NDO such as node takeover happening, the AUFO-source configuration will be re-started after mounting of a file system.

[0126] Embodiments of the present disclosure include various steps, which have been described above. The steps may be performed by hardware components or may be embodied in machine-executable instructions, which may be used to cause a processing resource (e.g., a general-purpose or special-purpose processor) programmed with the instructions to perform the steps. Alternatively, depending upon the particular implementation, various steps may be performed by a combination of hardware, software, firmware and/or by human operators.

[0127] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as a computer program product, which may include a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium embodying thereon instructions, which may be used to program a computer (or other electronic devices) to perform a process. The machine-readable medium (or non-transitory computer-readable medium) may include, but is not limited to, fixed (hard) drives, magnetic tape, floppy diskettes, optical disks, compact disc read-only memories (CD-ROMs), and magneto-optical disks, semiconductor memories, such as ROMs, PROMs, random access memories (RAMs), programmable read-only memories (PROMs), erasable PROMs (EPROMs), electrically erasable PROMs (EEPROMs), flash memory, magnetic or optical cards, or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions (e.g., computer programming code, such as software or firmware).

[0128] Various methods described herein may be practiced by combining one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media containing the code according to embodiments of the present disclosure with appropriate special purpose or standard computer hardware to execute the code contained therein. An apparatus for practicing various embodiments of the present disclosure may involve one or more computers (e.g., physical and/or virtual servers) (or one or more processors within a single computer) and storage systems containing or having network access to computer program(s) coded in accordance with various methods described herein, and the method steps associated with embodiments of the present disclosure may be accomplished by modules, routines, subroutines, or subparts of a computer program product.

[0129] FIG. 12 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 1500 in which or with which an embodiment of the present disclosure may be implemented. Computer system 1500 may be representative of all or a portion of the computing resources associated with a storage node (e.g., storage node 136a-n, storage node 146a-n, storage node 156a-b, storage node 236a-n, storage node 246a-n, nodes 311-312, nodes 321-322, nodes 356a-356b, storage node 400), a mediator (e.g., mediator 120, mediator 220, mediator 360), or an administrative workstation (e.g., computer system 110, computer system 210). Notably, components of computer system 1500 described herein are meant only to exemplify various possibilities. In no way should example computer system 1500 limit the scope of the present disclosure. In the context of the present example, computer system 1500 includes a bus 1502 or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a processing resource (e.g., processing logic, hardware processor(s) 1504) coupled with bus 1502 for processing information. Hardware processor 504 may be, for example, a general purpose microprocessor.

[0130] Computer system 1500 also includes a main memory 1506, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus 1502 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 1504. Main memory 1506 also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processor 1504. Such instructions, when stored in non-transitory storage media accessible to processor 1504, render computer system 1500 into a special-purpose machine that is customized to perform the operations specified in the instructions.

[0131] Computer system 1500 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 1508 or other static storage device coupled to bus 1502 for storing static information and instructions for processor 1504. A storage device 1510, e.g., a magnetic disk, optical disk or flash disk (made of flash memory chips), is provided and coupled to bus 1502 for storing information and instructions.

[0132] Computer system 1500 may be coupled via bus 1502 to a display 1512, e.g., a cathode ray tube (CRT), Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Organic Light-Emitting Diode Display (OLED), Digital Light Processing Display (DLP) or the like, for displaying information to a computer user. An input device 1514, including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupled to bus 1502 for communicating information and command selections to processor 1504. Another type of user input device is cursor control 1516, such as a mouse, a trackball, a trackpad, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to processor 1504 and for controlling cursor movement on display 1512. This input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in a plane.

[0133] Removable storage media 1540 can be any kind of external storage media, including, but not limited to, hard-drives, floppy drives, IOMEGA® Zip Drives, Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Compact Disc-Re-Writable (CD-RW), Digital Video Disk-Read Only Memory (DVD-ROM), USB flash drives and the like.

[0134] Computer system 1500 may implement the techniques described herein using customized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware or program logic which in combination with the computer system causes or programs computer system 1500 to be a special-purpose machine. According to one embodiment, the techniques herein are performed by computer system 1500 in response to processor 1504 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 1506. Such instructions may be read into main memory 1506 from another storage medium, such as storage device 1510. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 1506 causes processor 1504 to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions.

[0135] The term “storage media” as used herein refers to any non-transitory media that store data or instructions that cause a machine to operation in a specific fashion. Such storage media may comprise non-volatile media or volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical, magnetic or flash disks, such as storage device 1510. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 1506. Common forms of storage media include, for example, a flexible disk, a hard disk, a solid state drive, a magnetic tape, or any other magnetic data storage medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical data storage medium, any physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, or any other memory chip or cartridge.

[0136] Storage media is distinct from but may be used in conjunction with transmission media. Transmission media participates in transferring information between storage media. For example, transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus 1502. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

[0137] Various forms of media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 1504 for execution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk or solid state drive of a remote computer. The remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 1500 can receive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitter to convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector can receive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriate circuitry can place the data on bus 1502. Bus 1502 carries the data to main memory 1506, from which processor 1504 retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by main memory 1506 may optionally be stored on storage device 1510 either before or after execution by processor 1504.

[0138] Computer system 1500 also includes a communication interface 1518 coupled to bus 1502. Communication interface 1518 provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link 1520 that is connected to a local network 1522. For example, communication interface 1518 may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellite modem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communication interface 1518 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation, communication interface 1518 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

[0139] Network link 1520 typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices. For example, network link 1520 may provide a connection through local network 1522 to a host computer 1524 or to data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 1526. ISP 1526 in turn provides data communication services through the world wide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the “Internet” 1528. Local network 1522 and Internet 1528 both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network link 1520 and through communication interface 1518, which carry the digital data to and from computer system 1500, are example forms of transmission media.

[0140] Computer system 1500 can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), network link 1520 and communication interface 1518. In the Internet example, a server 1530 might transmit a requested code for an application program through Internet 1528, ISP 1526, local network 1522 and communication interface 1518. The received code may be executed by processor 1504 as it is received, or stored in storage device 1510, or other non-volatile storage for later execution.

[0141] FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a cloud environment in which various embodiments may be implemented (e.g., virtual storage nodes of a primary storage site, a secondary storage site, and a tertiary storage site). In various examples described herein, a virtual storage system 2900 may be run (e.g., on a VM or as a containerized instance, as the case may be) within a public cloud provider (e.g., hyperscaler 2902, 2904). In the context of the present example, the virtual storage system 2900 includes virtual storage nodes 2910 and 2920 and makes use of cloud disks (e.g., hyperscale disks 2915, 2925) provided by the hyperscaler.

[0142] The virtual storage system 2900 may present storage over a network to clients 2905 using various protocols (e.g., object storage protocol (OSP), small computer system interface (SCSI), Internet small computer system interface (ISCSI), fibre channel (FC), common Internet file system (CIFS), network file system (NFS), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), web-based distributed authoring and versioning (WebDAV), or a custom protocol. Clients 2905 may request services of the virtual storage system 2900 by issuing Input/Output requests 2906, 2907 (e.g., file system protocol messages (in the form of packets) over the network). A representative client of clients 2905 may comprise an application, such as a database application, executing on a computer that “connects” to the virtual storage system over a computer network, such as a point-to-point channel, a shared local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or a virtual private network (VPN) implemented over a public network, such as the Internet.

[0143] In the context of the present example, the virtual storage system 2900 includes virtual storage nodes 2910 and 2920 with each virtual storage node being shown includes an operating system. The virtual storage node 2910 includes an operating system 2911 having layers 2913 and 2914 of a protocol stack for processing of object storage protocol operations or requests.

[0144] The virtual storage node 2920 includes an operating system 2921, layers 2923 and 2924 of a protocol stack for processing of object storage protocol operations or requests.

[0145] The storage nodes can include storage device drivers for transmission of messages and data via the one or more links 2960. The storage device drivers interact with the various types of hyperscale disks 2915, 2925 supported by the hyperscalers.

[0146] The data served by the virtual storage nodes may be distributed across multiple storage units embodied as persistent storage devices (e.g., non-volatile memory 2940, 2942), including but not limited to HDDs, SSDs, flash memory systems, or other storage devices (e.g., 2915, 2925).

[0147] FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualized environment in which various embodiments may be implemented (e.g., virtual storage nodes of a primary storage site, a secondary storage site, etc.). In various examples described herein, a virtual storage system 1200 may be run (e.g., on a VM or as a containerized instance, as the case may be) within a public cloud provider. In the context of the present example, the virtual storage system 1200 includes a management server appliance 1210, a host clustering 1220 that includes host 01 and a host 02, and clusters 01 and 02. Cluster 01 includes a consistency group 1240 with L1, L2, and L3. Cluster 02 includes a consistency group 1250 with L1, L2, and L3.

[0148] To create a virtualized high availability host clustering 1220 across two sites A and B, hosts are used and managed by a server appliance 1210. The virtual machine (VM-1) can be migrated from host 01 to host 02. The server appliance 1210 is a centralized management system that enables administrators to effectively operate hosts in host clusters. The server appliance 1210 facilitates key functions such as VM provisioning, High Availability (HA), Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), Kubernetes Grid, and more. It is an important component in cloud environments.

[0149] The virtual storage system 1200 provides advanced business continuity if one or more failure domains suffer a total outage. The virtual storage system 1200 may present storage over a network to clients using various protocols (e.g., object storage protocol (OSP), small computer system interface (SCSI), Internet small computer system interface (ISCSI), fibre channel (FC), common Internet file system (CIFS), network file system (NFS), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), web-based distributed authoring and versioning (WebDAV), or a custom protocol. Clients may request services of the virtual storage system 1200 by issuing Input/Output requests (e.g., file system protocol messages (in the form of packets) over the network). A representative client may comprise an application, such as a database application, executing on a computer that “connects” to the virtual storage system over a computer network, such as a point-to-point channel, a shared local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or a virtual private network (VPN) implemented over a public network, such as the Internet.

[0150] In the context of the present example, the clusters 01 and 02 each include virtual storage nodes with each virtual storage node including an operating system. The storage nodes can include storage device drivers for transmission of messages and data via the one or more links 1241 and 1242.

[0151] The data served by the virtual storage nodes may be distributed across multiple storage units embodied as persistent storage devices (e.g., non-volatile memory), including but not limited to HDDs, SSDs, flash memory systems, or other storage devices.

[0152] The clusters 01 and 02 enable business services to continue operating even through a complete site failure, supporting applications to fail over transparently using a secondary copy. Neither manual intervention nor custom scripting are required to trigger a failover with active sync. The active sync supports a symmetric active capability, enabling read and write I/O operations from both copies of a protected LUN (e.g., L1, L2, L3) with bidirectional synchronous replication, enabling both LUN copies to serve I/O operations locally.

[0153] A data protection relationship to protect for business continuity is created between the source storage system (e.g., cluster 01) and destination storage system (e.g., cluster 02), by adding the application specific LUNs from different volumes within a storage virtual machine (SVM) to the consistency group. Under normal operations, the enterprise application writes to the primary consistency group (e.g., CG 1240), which synchronously replicates this I/O to the mirror consistency group (e.g., CG 1250). Even though two separate copies of the data exist in the data protection relationship, because active sync maintains the same LUN identity, the application host sees this as a shared virtual device with multiple paths (e.g., active/optimized paths 1222, 1223; active/non-optimized path 1225, 1226) while only one LUN copy is being written to at a time. Active Optimized paths are a path state in ALUA (Asymmetric Logical Unit Access) where the target storage system responds to I/O requests using the most efficient path. In this case, the active/optimized path 1222 is between host 01 and cluster 01 at site A while the active/optimized path 1223 is between host 02 and cluster 02 at site B. The active non-optimized paths 1225 and 1226 are between different sites. This results in higher performance and reduced latency.

[0154] When a failure renders the primary storage system offline, the operating system detects this failure and uses the Mediator 1290 for reconfirmation. If neither the operating system nor the Mediator 1290 are able to ping the primary site with cluster 01, the operating system performs the automatic failover operation. This process results in failing over only a specific application without the need for the manual intervention or scripting which was previously required for the purpose of failover.

[0155] The external Mediator 1290 is external from sites A and B and installed in a third failure domain, distinct from the two distinct failure domains of the clusters 01 and 02. The Mediator 1290 acts as a passive witness to active sync copies. In the event of a network partition or unavailability of one copy, active sync uses Mediator 1290 to determine which copy continues to serve I/O, while discontinuing I/O on the other copy. The Mediator 1290 plays an important role in active sync configurations as a passive quorum witness, ensuring quorum maintenance and facilitating data access during failures. It acts as a ping proxy for controllers to determine liveliness of peer controllers. Although the Mediator does not actively trigger switchover operations, it provides a vital function by allowing the surviving node to check its partner's status during network communication issues. In its role as a quorum witness, the Mediator provides an alternate path (effectively serving as a proxy) to the peer cluster.

[0156] Furthermore, the Mediator allows clusters to get this information as part of the quorum process. The Mediator 1290 utilizes the node management LIF and cluster management LIF for communication purposes. The Mediator 1290 establishes redundant connections through multiple paths to differentiate between site failure and InterSwitch Link (ISL) failure. When a cluster loses connection with the Mediator software and all its nodes due to an event, it is considered not reachable. This triggers an alert and enables automated failover to the mirror Consistency Group (CG) in the secondary site, ensuring uninterrupted I/O for the client. The replication data path relies on a heartbeat mechanism, and if a network glitch or event persists beyond a certain period, it can result in heartbeat failures, causing the relationship to go out-of-sync. However, the presence of redundant paths, such as LIF failover to another port, can sustain the heartbeat and prevent such disruptions.